


i'll be waiting here ('till the stars fall out of the sky)

by cllarkes



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Forbidden Love, Grounder Bellamy Blake, Smut, Strangers to Lovers, lexa's not The Bad Guy™ but she's not exactly a protagonist either
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:20:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29635239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cllarkes/pseuds/cllarkes
Summary: Bellamy on the ground and Clarke in the sky have been having the most magical dreams of one another all their lives. They always knew it wasn't coincidental, but when Clarke is sent down to Earth in a desperate attempt by her mother to keep the Council from floating her and Bellamy is the one to rescue her, they quickly learn that they're soulmates, destined to be together.Too bad soulmates are illegal.or, another bellarke soulmate au
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 20
Kudos: 127
Collections: The t100 Writers for BLM Initiative





	i'll be waiting here ('till the stars fall out of the sky)

**Author's Note:**

> This is not the first Bellarke soulmate au, nor will it be the last, but I hope it holds a candle to at least some of the truly legendary soulmate aus that are already out there. 
> 
> Thank you a thousand times to whoever prompted this, and I hope it lives up to your expectations <3
> 
> This fic was written for the t100 Fic for BLM Initiative. You can learn more about us [here!](https://t100fic-for-blm.carrd.co/)
> 
> I tried my hardest with the Trig, and I apologize if it's grammatically incorrect. You can find the translations by hovering over the text on desktop or clicking the text on mobile. Thank you to everyone over at [The Unofficial Trigedasleng Dictionary.](https://trigedasleng.net/dictionary)
> 
> Title from "In the Wind" by Lord Huron
> 
> Moodboard by the talented [broashwhat.](https://broashwhat.tumblr.com/)

_December 2136 - Trikru Territory - Thirteen years before Clarke falls from the sky_

Bellamy Blake is ten years old when he first has the dream.

His mother comes into the room he shares with his sister every night to tell them stories before bed. They’re usually mellow and child-friendly, but sometimes, when Octavia falls asleep early, they get darker, scarier, more thrilling.

Bellamy’s favorite is the one with the dragon.

It’s a story from the pre-apocalypse Earth, Aurora says, that’s been reimagined thousands of times over, but the premise is simple: there’s a beautiful princess, a fair maiden, stuck in a tall tower guarded by a terribly frightening fire-breathing dragon. A brave knight travels across the land and fights with everything inside him to slay the dragon and save his princess from the tower.

It’s no surprise, then, that the story eventually finds its way into his dreams.

There’s a fair maiden in the tower, but it’s not his sister or his mother, who are the only people he knows that he’d be willing to die for. Instead, there’s a girl with beautiful blonde waves calling his name, waving her arms, begging him to save her.

So he does. He fights with all his might and narrowly escapes being burnt alive more than once, and eventually, the slain dragon falls into the moat below, never to be seen again.

He races up the stairs and reaches the maiden, gazing into the deepest blue eyes that he’s ever seen. Her face crumples when she sees him and she throws her arms around him, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

They run down the steep stairs of the tower and off into the sunset, escaping to a far-off land to rule over their own make-believe kingdom together.

He awakens abruptly to the sound of his little sister yelling and running through his family’s cabin. He lays in bed for another hour, trying to process the dream that even his ten year old self knows is the kind of dream that one doesn’t normally have.

~ ~ ~

_July 2140 - The Ark - Nine years before Clarke falls from the sky_

Clarke Griffin is eight years old when she first has the dream.

It’s a dream unlike any other that she’s had - impossibly vivid, so immersive that it takes her a long time afterwards to realize that it was just a dream.

It’s magnificent: she’s swimming through a large body of water, like the lakes and oceans she’s seen in photos and videos from Earth. There are all kinds of sea creatures in every direction she can see - fish covered in colorful scales, creatures she’s sure are a fragment of her imagination. She can’t see what’s at the bottom, never mind the fact that she knows she can’t swim, yet she doesn’t feel afraid. She feels at peace, like this is where she’s meant to be.

But the most vivid part of the dream is the boy.

She can tell he’s a little older than she is, and he has dark, curly hair and tanned skin that is covered with freckles. He smiles kindly at her, holds out his hand, and she takes it, letting him pull her through the water as they move in sync.

It’s as if her body is on autopilot, her muscles moving naturally as if she’s been swimming for her whole life on the Ark, her lungs never running out of air.

They swim and swim, holding hands the entire time, swimming through the ancient ruins of sunken ships and bright coral reefs. The boy turns around to check on her often, grinning at her as if she’s known him for her entire life.

And, every time his dark brown eyes meet hers, she feels like she has.

_So why can’t she remember meeting him on the Ark?_

~ ~ ~

_May 2145 - The Ark - Four years before Clarke falls from the sky_

There are four people who frequent Clarke’s dreams. Her parents are two of them, and the third is her best friend Wells.

The fourth person is the boy.

She doesn’t dream about him every single night, but regularly enough that it’s no coincidence. When she dreams of him, it’s always like they’re the only two people alive and nobody else exists. All of the dreams are just as vivid and immersive as the first - she remembers all of them perfectly when she wakes up in the morning, and they don’t leave her mind until she falls asleep that night.

Her most recent one is one that she supposes she should find unpleasant. It’s certainly the kind of dream that most would want to forget.

She was being dragged down into a fiery underworld by some terrible, faceless creatures that cackled at her as she struggled against their grasps. She fought, hard, but they easily overpowered her - until he came.

The boy, now a few years older, seemed to appear out of thin air. He slayed the demons that were holding her back with his sword, and then grabbed her hand to find a way out. When more demons appeared, the pair worked together to outsmart them and managed to trap them in their own entanglement. Once the demons were trapped, the fire disappeared and was instead replaced with lush, green fields that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Clarke had taken the boy’s hand once again and they’d ran off in a random direction, exploring this new dimension with the feeling that they had time in the world to be together.

The mystery still remained - who was this boy, and _why_ was he frequenting her dreams?

“I keep dreaming of this boy,” Clarke says at breakfast a few weeks later. It’s the first time she’s mentioned it to anyone. She doesn’t doubt that the people she sees every day dream about all sorts of people, maybe even people that they don’t know, but something about her situation still doesn’t feel normal.

Her father shoots her an amused grin from his seat across the table. “Tell me more about this boy you’re crushing on, sweetheart.”

“But Dad, that’s the thing. He’s not a crush. I…. I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

Jake leans back in his chair, raises an eyebrow. “That’s impossible. There are studies all the way back from Earth that say every face you see in a dream is a face you’ve seen before. It’s just how the brain works. Your mother probably knows more about the psychological side of it. You can ask her about it when she comes back from work.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, kiddo, I’m sure,” Jake says, chuckling. “You probably saw this kid at the marketplace, or at a Unity Day parade, or somewhere else on this old boat without even noticing.”

He gets up to put away his plate, leaving Clarke shaking her head.

She would have remembered this boy if she had seen him, even for just a moment. She’s sure of it.

~ ~ ~

_October 2149 - Nineteen days before Clarke falls from the sky_

The last dream that Bellamy has is one where the girl falls from the sky.

It may sound ridiculous, but it’s simple - dream-Bellamy is alone in a dense forest (much like the ones around his home village) when a body falls from the sky and lands right at his feet.

He recognizes the body right away without a second thought. Blonde hair, fair skin, the most beautiful face he’s ever seen even as her eyes remain closed - it’s the girl from his dreams.

When she finally opens her eyes, she doesn’t seem hurt at all. Instead, she sits up right away, looks directly at him, and says, _“Oh, Bellamy, we can finally be together.”_

And then her soft, plump lips are on his and his hands are tangled in her hair.

He’s had plenty of lovers and has kissed more women than he can count, but this is different. This is heaven. _She’s_ his heaven.

He wakes up suddenly, body covered in cold sweat, the ghost of her lips still on his. It takes a long moment to realize that it was just a dream.

Because he’s Bellamy Blake, he spends the next days trying to recall every single dream of the girl he has had since he was ten years old and tries to find something, _anything_ that can help him make sense of who this girl is and why she can’t leave his head.

______________________________________________________________

Clarke is sent to Earth only days before her eighteenth birthday.

It happens in a blur. One second, she’s drawing in her cell, and then she hears people arguing outside the door. Then, her mother is in her cell, running over to her and angling a needle into her neck, and it all goes black.

When she wakes up again, she’s in a pod. Abby is kneeling next to it, tears streaming down her face, saying some prayer to whatever God may be out there.

And suddenly Clarke understands.

This has happened before - not even two years earlier, when a man from Alpha Station was caught selling essential medicine to the Ark’s poorer residents through the black market, his wife had quickly rushed him to the abandoned launch bay. By the time the guards found them, his wife was in the final stages of launching him to Earth in one of the few functional emergency pods that remained. The wife was floated immediately after, and nobody ever heard from the man again.

After that, the launch bay had been made inaccessible to everyone except for council members that could scan a valid badge at the entrance.

Council members like her mother. Her mother, who was also the highest ranking medical official on the ship, and who knew they wouldn’t float her unless absolutely necessary.

The oxygen problem must be getting worse, and the Council must have voted to execute her even before her eighteenth birthday. She is, after all, carrying a secret that people are desperate to cover up. A secret that got her locked up, a secret that got her father killed. There’s no doubt that she must be number one on the list of disposable citizens.

It’s either certain death on the Ark, or a small chance at survival on Earth. Earth, a planet that she can only hope is survivable.

She passed her Earth Skills classes with the highest marks, and she knows that more from the Ark will follow her down once the oxygen problem brings death to their doorstep - whether it be five people or hundreds, she won’t be alone for long.

Hopefully.

She looks into her mother’s tearful eyes to give her a weak smile, and says “May we meet again.”

~ ~ ~

It’s a foggy morning, the kind where the cold seeps through one’s skin and chills them to the core, when Bellamy hears it.

He’s heard that sound before, two years ago, when a Sky Person fell in a metal pod and wreaked havoc upon the Coalition.

He looks to the sky and sure enough, there’s a metallic object with a small parachute coming down. He watches it disappear below the treeline of the forest he’s walking through and flinches when he hears it hit the ground.

All his instincts should be telling him to flee in the other direction as quickly as possible, but Bellamy feels something pulling him towards the crash site.

He finds himself running, sprinting through the forest he knows so well, right on the edge of Trikru territory and dense enough that it’ll take any others a while to get to where the pod landed. Luckily, it’s early enough that he doubts many people are awake, and judging by the smell of smoke that’s getting stronger and stronger, he’s extremely close.

When he gets to the pod, it’s still in one piece, save for a few dents. There’s a visible silhouette of a slumped over person who he can only hope didn’t suffer a painful and terrifying death. Bracing himself, Bellamy grabs the handle to the pod’s door and tugs on it as hard as he can, using all the strength inside him to finally yank it open.

And then he sees _her._

The girl from his dreams.

Her eyes are closed and he can only see one side of her face, but it’s unmistakably her. Pale skin, blonde waves, full lips that are slightly parted, making her look as if she’s in a peaceful slumber.

The girl he’s been dreaming about since he was a ten-year-old boy, the girl he’s been keeping an eye out for in his village and anywhere his travels take him, the girl he’s felt this unexplainable, ethereal connection to despite never actually meeting her - that girl just fell from the sky. Just like she did in the last dream of her he had, a dream that is still fresh in his mind.

She has a few scratches and bruises, perhaps a broken bone that he can’t see, and there’s some fresh blood on her forehead from where her head must have slammed into the control console upon impact, knocking her out. He grabs the arm that is dangling at her side and presses two fingers onto her wrist, relieved when he finds a pulse.

Then, he hears it: the warning horn. One long sound, followed by three short sounds, and then two more long sounds. The alert signal that tells everyone in the village that something is wrong.

He has to get her to his mother before anyone sees her.

Quickly but carefully, he manages to unstrap the girl from her chair and gently places her on a soft patch of grass. He takes off his oversized fur jacket, ignoring the cold that hits him all at once, and wraps her in it, then picks her up and carries her in his arms.

The Blakes family cabin isn’t far from here, thankfully, and it’s on the outskirts of his village, in a quieter and emptier area. There’s a shortcut he can take through the densest part of the forest - an area that most are too afraid of to venture into, but one that he knows by heart.

He moves swiftly through the forest, even as he carries the weight of the girl’s body in his arms. She hasn’t stirred awake yet, and her sticky, warm blood still flows from the wound in her head and soaks into the fur of his jacket. He has no doubt that she’ll survive - but he moves as though she were dying in his arms and he had only minutes before she succumbed to death.

He manages to make it to his family’s cabin without running into anyone, and bursts through the door. His mother is awake and making breakfast and tea, and he’s sure he must have woken Octavia up with all the commotion as well.

“You’re back sooner than usu—” Aurora starts, then cuts off sharply as her eyes drift down to the body in her son’s arms. “Who is this?”

“I don’t know,” Bellamy says, already rushing to the back of the cabin where his mother’s infirmary room is, “but she’s hurt.”

He lays the girl down on the table. She still hasn’t woken up, but he can see the rise and fall of her chest.

Aurora is right behind him and begins cleaning the girl’s wounds, putting a bandage on the gash in her head and rubbing healing ointment on her bruises. The pungent smell of herbs fills the room, and Bellamy sees Octavia in the doorframe, silently observing.

About an hour later, once the girl has been moved to the infirmary’s spare bed and covered with fur blankets, Aurora turns to Bellamy, a stone cold expression on her face.

_“Explain.”_

~ ~ ~

Clarke’s head is _throbbing_.

That’s the first thought she has as she opens her eyes and her surroundings come into focus.

The second is that someone is hovering over her - a girl who looks to be about her age, with long, black hair and bright green eyes.

Clarke has no idea who she is.

In fact, now when she slightly turns her head to take in where she is, she doesn’t recognize anything. There’s no silvery metal on the walls, no manufactured air blowing from the vents, nothing familiar.

One thing’s for sure - she’s not on the Ark anymore.

"Text with Creator's Style turned off” the girl calls out in a language that Clarke’s never heard before, “Text with Creator's Style turned off"

Clarke hears footsteps, and a woman comes rushing in, holding a mug that she can see the steam coming out of. Like the girl at her bedside, this woman also has long, dark hair. She also looks pretty pissed off - not a good sign.

The woman sits down on a stool at Clarke’s bedside and shoves the mug in her face. “Drink,” she says sternly in perfect English.

Clarke doesn’t really want anything to drink, at least not until she figures out where she is and why these people are surrounding her. But she also doesn’t want to make this woman angry, and she figures that it’s not poisoned because these people wanted her dead they could have killed her when they had discovered her, so she tries to sit up to take the mug. Her body aches and screams at her to stay still, and she lets out a whimper as pain shoots through her.

The woman’s expression softens, and she helps rearrange the pillows under Clarke’s back so that she can sit up. Once Clarke’s in a comfortable position, she takes the mug and takes a tentative sip of the liquid. It immediately warms her body and tastes unlike anything she’s ever had before.

The woman and the girl silently observe her as she eagerly gulps down the entire drink in two long sips. The younger girl’s expression is one of curiosity, and the older woman’s is slightly kinder than before, but still not exactly inviting.

“You are a Sky Person,” the older woman says suddenly, startling Clarke.

Clarke puts down the empty mug and lets it rest in her lap. Suddenly, she remembers, and it all hits her at once - the needle in her neck, her mother kissing her forehead before launching her to Earth, the hard crash at the landing that must have knocked her out.

She made it to Earth, which is now confirmed to be survivable, and she’s not alone.

“Yes,” she tells the woman. It is not lost on her how the woman’s face darkens and a worried look flashes across her eyes when she says that word.

“How many others are there?”

“Just me.”

At that, the woman looks almost relieved, just for a split second. She says something to the younger girl in that strange language, and the girl scurries off. The woman looks back at Clarke, managing to give her a small smile. “Forgive me for being callous, it’s not every day that someone falls from the sky.”

Clarke smiles back at her. “I can imagine.”

“My name is Aurora. The girl you just met was my daughter Octavia, and my eldest, Bellamy, is the one who brought you here.”

“My name is Clarke.”

Aurora places a comforting arm on Clarke’s hand. “Clarke. It is a pleasure to meet you. How is your head? Are you in pain?”

“I’m a little sore, but I can manage,” Clarke replies, and it’s true. There’s still a dull ache where she hit her head, and she’s probably covered in bruises, but none of the pain is severe enough to indicate that any of her bones may be broken.

Aurora nods. “I am glad to hear that. Now, Clarke, please tell me - why are you here?”

Clarke swallows. It’s a long story, one that has too many details to get into right away, so she chooses to stick with the basics. “My mother sent me down here to keep me alive.”

Aurora looks puzzled, and Clarke’s aware of how bizarre that explanation must sound. She starts to elaborate, but Aurora stops her before she can continue.

“I do not need to know the full story now. There are more important matters to attend to.” She turns her head towards the doorframe and calls out, “Bellamy!”

A moment later, a figure appears in the doorway, taking a few tentative steps into the room. Clarke takes a good look at him, and her heart stops.

It’s him.

It’s the boy who’s been visiting her dreams for almost a decade now. The boy she felt like she knew so well, even though she had never seen him in her life.

Same dark curls. Same dark eyes. Same freckles.

Him.

She feels like she can’t breathe.

The boy - _Bellamy_ \- takes a few more steps towards her bed, pulling up a second stool to join his mother. All at once, Clarke regains her senses, and she needs answers, _now_.

“I know you,” she says, eyes focused on his face, pointing right at him. “I’ve _seen_ you before.”

Bellamy and Aurora share a look, Bellamy looking perplexed and Aurora looking… _horrified_.

“I’ve seen you before,” she repeats, “in my dreams. Since I was eight years old.”

Bellamy’s jaw drops, and Aurora draws in a sharp breath.

And then Bellamy makes her world turn upside down when he says “I’ve seen you in my dreams as well.”

Now it’s her turn to stare slack-jawed at Bellamy, who lets out a nervous laugh. “I’ve been seeing you in my dreams since I was ten years old.”

Clarke feels validated, because always knew it wasn’t just a coincidence. Bellamy laughs again, and she laughs right back, because _what the fuck is going on_ \- until she sees Aurora’s clearly troubled expression.

Bellamy notices it as well. “ _Nomon_ … what’s the matter?”

“You’ve both been dreaming of each other for so much of your lives - despite being worlds apart.”

“Yes, but why—”

Aurora cuts her son off. “It means you’re soulmates, Bellamy.”

 _Soulmates?_ Clarke has heard that word before, many times. Loads of couples up on the Ark liked to claim that they’d found their soulmate, but she’d always thought it was something that only existed in fairytales.

She supposes that it’s a good thing, though - until she sees the absolutely _shattered_ look on Bellamy’s - _her soulmate’s_ \- face, one that matches his mother’s.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, looking frantically between Bellamy and Aurora.

“Soulmates are illegal,” says Bellamy, his voice breaking, tears swimming in his eyes.

_“What?”_

“Our Commander had a soulmate as well,” Aurora explains, “but two years ago, she was killed in a horrible accident. It was a brutal, brutal death, and the Commander was incredibly distraught. Months after it happened, it was still tearing her apart - so she decided that love is weakness. Love is weakness, and all soulmates shall be put to death for displaying such a weakness.”

That fills Clarke with red-hot rage. Love is weakness? All soulmates must be killed? She understands the Commander’s pain - after her father died, it felt like her world was ending, and losing a soulmate must be infinitely worse. But she didn’t choose to have a soulmate, so why should she - or anyone else like her - be punished?

“But we can pretend, can’t we? Nobody has to know that we’re soulmates.” Bellamy argues firmly. “We don’t even have to be each other’s chosens if that keeps us alive.”

Aurora shakes her head. “You seem have forgotten that she is also a Sky Person.”

Bellamy blanches, Aurora turns to Clarke with a somber expression. “My dear, do you know that two years ago, another pod was launched from space with just one man inside it?”

 _The man from Alpha Station_. Of course Clarke knows. “Did he make it? Is he here?” she asks excitedly.

“Clarke,” Aurora continues. “That man’s pod is what killed the Commander’s soulmate. He was found by some scouts and brought to the Commander, who ordered his execution within hours.”

Clarke feels her heart beating in her throat. “Wait - when my pod crashed, did it… did _I_ kill someone too?”

“No, you didn’t,” Bellamy defends her. “Your pod crashed into a dense part of the forest. I was the only person around for miles.”

She lets out a sigh of relief. She’s a Sky Person, but nobody was hurt, so nobody would be too mad at her. It would turn out ok - but Aurora and Bellamy’s faces are still grim. “So what’s the problem, then? I didn’t hurt anyone.”

“It doesn’t matter if you didn’t hurt anyone,” Aurora starts, “the Commander declared that any other Sky People must be brought to her immediately for a public execution.”

Clarke’s eyes widen at that, and a wave of nausea crashes over her. These people - maybe not Aurora and Bellamy, but the others on the ground - want her dead for not just one, but two crimes.

 _Two crimes that shouldn’t even be crimes,_ she thinks bitterly.

Bellamy turns his head towards his mother, tears in her eyes. “She can’t fake being one of us,” he whispers, voice trembling.

It’s true. These people on the ground - they’ll spot a fake right away. She doesn’t know just how many of these Grounders there are, but somehow, she doubts that it’s enough for her to blend in the background without anyone noticing that someone new lives among them. Her clothes are different, her mannerisms are different, and she doesn’t even speak their language.

This is bad.

“Wait,” Clarke starts as something else clicks in her head, “there’s going to be more Sky People coming to the ground, possibly very soon. I’m talking about hundreds, maybe even _thousands_ if things go according to plan.”

 _“What?”_ Aurora gasps.

“I live - lived - on the Ark. It’s a large settlement in a space station, with over two thousand people. It was designed to house a few generations until the Earth became survivable, and was supposed to have enough oxygen to survive one hundred more years - but my father discovered that the system is failing, and it can’t be fixed. If they don’t figure out a way to come down within a few months, they’ll all die up there.”

“Is that why they sent you down?” Bellamy asks, a glint of anger in his eye. “To check if the Earth is survivable before they all come down?”

“No. On the Ark, all crimes are punishable by death. My father was killed because he wanted to go public with the information about the system failure, but someone turned him in and they charged him with treason.”

Clarke internally cringes at that, because the only two people who could have turned him in are her mother and Wells. She’s not sure which one would be a worse betrayal, so she tries her best not to think about it.

She continues. “I knew about it too, and I threatened to finish what my father had started. They arrested me for treason as well, but since I wasn’t eighteen yet, they couldn’t execute me right away - so they locked me up in solitary confinement. Once you turn eighteen, the council reviews your case and chooses to absolve you of your crime or execute you. I have no doubts that I’d be killed, since I knew the biggest secret that they were trying to keep.”

A look of understanding appears on Aurora’s face. “That’s what you meant when you said your mother sent you here to save you.”

Clarke nods. “The oxygen problem must have gotten even worse, and if they needed extra air, then, well… I’d be the first person they’d want to get rid of, even before my eighteenth birthday. My mother knew that, so she snuck me into a pod and hoped for the best.”

A silence comes over them, and Clarke knows it’s a lot to digest. Then, Bellamy speaks again.

“So you’re sure that more of them are going to come down.”

“Yes.”

Bellamy gets up and starts pacing. “The Commander won’t like that. She’ll declare war the second they land, even if it’s far from our territory. She’ll want them all dead.”

Aurora’s sadness is evident as she looks into Clarke’s eyes. “I am sorry then, dear, but when that time comes, we will have to let you go. You can hide here for as long as you need, as long as we ensure that nobody knows we are housing you. But, when the rest of your people come down, you will have to join them.”

Bellamy stops, a look of terror on his face. “You can’t do that. Our army will kill them all. They’ll kill _her_.”

Aurora looks back and forth between her son and Clarke, trying to find the right words. Eventually, her eyes settle on Clarke. “I truly am sorry, Clarke, but I have to keep my family safe. I hope you can understand.

Clarke does understand. What really makes her heart wrench is the feeling that she’s being robbed. Not just robbed of a normal life on Earth for her and her people, though.

Robbed of a soulmate she didn’t even know she had.

~ ~ ~

Despite the heavy news she’s just received, Clarke falls asleep soon after.

Aurora grabs Bellamy’s arm and forcefully pulls him out of the room and into the hallway.

“What were you thinking?” she hisses. All the sympathy for Clarke’s situation is gone from her eyes as she shoots daggers at her son.

“I couldn’t leave her there!”

“Yes, you could have! You didn’t want to leave her, though, and now all of us are in trouble. Do you have any idea how serious this is? If anyone finds her, all of us - you, her, your sister and I - _all of us_ will be killed.”

“ _You’re_ the one who said she could stay with us until her people come down,” Bellamy counters.

“Of course I did! Once you brought her here, I wasn’t going to leave her to fend for herself, not after all she’s been through. But Bellamy - she’s a Sky Person. Surely you must have remembered what that means?”

He hasn’t seen his fierce level of anger from Aurora in a long time. She’s normally incredibly level-headed, rarely raising her voice at her children and preferring to look at every situation calmly and reasonably before coming to a conclusion.

That’s why he refuses to get too emotional, even though he wants to scream and cry and rage against his mother, the Commander and her senseless decrees, the whole _universe_ for giving him a soulmate that he can’t have.

“I saw this exact thing happen in a dream,” he says, holding up a hand to silence Aurora before she can interrupt. “I saw a body - saw _her_ fall from the sky. It was so vivid. But it was different from the other dreams I had of her, because in this one… she kissed me. And when she kissed me - and I know this sounds crazy - I felt like we were meant to be together.”

His strategy is working, because Aurora already looks a little calmer. Not by much, but it’s still something.

“That’s why I couldn’t leave her. I wasn’t even thinking about what her being a Sky Person meant because I had to help her, _nomon_ , I _had_ to.”

After a long moment, Aurora lets out a sigh and the scowl disappears from her face. “I suppose I can’t be angry at you for having a soulmate. I feel for the two of you, trust me my child, I do. Just… tell me nobody knows about her.”

He can’t tell her that, because the warning signal went off. It must show on his face, too, judging by the panicked look Aurora gives him.

_“Bellamy.”_

He throws his arms up in defeat. “It was loud when it crashed, and they must have seen the smoke coming from the site, too. The warning horn went off, but I’m positive nobody saw me bring her here.”

Aurora slumps down against the wall, tired and defeated, resting her head against her hands. Bellamy flinches. The cabin’s silence is eerie, unnatural.

Eventually, Aurora looks back up at him, looking exhausted yet determined.

“Nobody can know about her. My patients cannot see or hear her, and nobody can suspect that there’s a fourth person in the house or a new face in the village. We didn’t see anything, we didn’t hear anything, and we’re just as shocked that a pod fell from the sky as everyone else is. Do you understand?”

He nods.

He’s always been willing to do anything to ensure that his mother and sister are safe. Now, he’ll do the same for his soulmate.

~ ~ ~

A few hours later, Aurora prepares to head off for her shift at the village’s medical center. Before she leaves, she instructs Octavia to stay inside with Clarke that day, and once again drills into Bellamy that he must appear surprised when someone at the marketplace inevitably brings up the disturbance that took place that morning.

So, Bellamy pushes away any and all thoughts of the girl that is currently laying in his mother’s bedroom, and makes his way through the various trading posts like he would on any other day.

It’s clear that word of what set off the warning horns in the morning has spread, judging by the snippets of conversations that Bellamy overhears at the bustling marketplace.

“….the noise woke my whole family up….”

“….Rei thinks it may have been an attack….”

“….if the person the pod belonged to is still alive, they must be taken to the Commander.”

_They know about the pod._

_They know there’s a Sky Person on the loose._

His knees suddenly feel weak, and his head is spinning. Even if just a few people in this village know the full details of what caused the commotion, the story will surely spread quickly, and soon the entire Coalition will be on the hunt for an outsider. 

He takes a steadying breath and forces his expression to remain neutral as he walks up to the dried meat stand and pretends to be incredibly interested in comparing two pieces of venison.

“Good afternoon, Bellamy. Have you heard the news?”

He turns to face the vendor, offering him a friendly smile. “I have heard bits and pieces. Do you know what exactly happened?”

“Some scouts followed the source of the smoke and found an abandoned pod deep in the forest, similar to the one that killed _Heda’s_ soulmate.”

Bellamy feigns shock at that and hopes that he at least looks somewhat believable. “A pod from the sky? Was it empty?”

The vendor nods. “It was empty, but there was fresh blood inside, so somebody must have been inside. They must have escaped into the wilderness on their own.”

“Hm.” That’s a little relieving to hear - nobody suspects that anyone may have found the person in the pod and hidden them somewhere safe. And why would they? As far as everyone else is concerned, nobody has a soulmate from the sky that they’ve been dreaming of for over half their life. Instead of looking for a Sky Person in the villages and checking everybody’s cabins, they’ll all be searching the forests, and there’s more than enough forest to keep them occupied.

The vendor continues. “There’s a bounty on the Sky Person’s head. Whoever finds them and brings them to _Heda_ will receive great riches that we can only dream of.” He leans in close to Bellamy’s face, “A few men and I have been thinking of starting a search party and venturing into the forests ourselves, and if we are successful, we will split the reward among ourselves. Let me know if you would like to join us.”

“I will consider it,” he says, knowing damn well there’s no way in hell he’ll help them. In fact, just knowing that the entire village, and probably the entire Coalition, wants to search for and capture _his_ Clarke makes anger bubble inside him. 

He trades a large piece of cow hide for the venison, and starts the trek back to his family’s cabin. He hears even more people discussing the morning’s events, but this time the words _pod_ , _Sky Person_ , and _bounty_ are much more frequent. Just as he suspected, word is spreading incredibly fast.

When he makes it back to the cabin, Octavia is waiting for him. She looks up at her brother with a raised eyebrow. “Well?” she asks, “What are they saying?”

He sits down across from her. “They know about the pod and know that there was someone in it. There’s a bounty, and they suspect that she ran off into the wilderness and is still out there somewhere.”

Octavia nods. “That’s good news, right? They won’t be sticking their noses in our business and trying to find out if we know anything.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it good news,” he laughs nervously, “but it could be a lot worse.”

He goes to check on Clarke a bit later, and finds her sleeping in his mother’s bed, which Aurora has graciously offered to her while declaring that she’ll sleep on the sofa at the front of the cabin for the time being.

He finds himself sitting in the stool at her bedside and reaching out for her, gently brushing the hair from her face. _She’s beautiful like this_ , he thinks, _so calm and content_.

His hand remains on her forehead, lightly stroking her skin with his thumb, careful not to press down on her stitched wound.

“I’ll keep you safe, Clarke,” he whispers, “I promise.”

~ ~ ~

Bellamy wakes up in the middle of the night, not quite sure why.

The room is silent and dark, just as he likes it. He doesn’t hear thunder or see lighting, Octavia is fast asleep, and he doesn’t hear his mother tiptoeing through the house either. Annoyed, he does his best to fall back asleep.

Then, a few minutes later, he understands.

Clarke wakes up from a nightmare, crying out into the night about some horrors that he doesn’t want to imagine, and Bellamy jumps out of bed without a second thought and races to his mother’s bedroom.

Clarke is sitting up, trembling with sweat sheening her forehead.

“Hey, hey, it’s ok,” he soothes, gently laying her back down, “I’m right here. You’re safe.”

She doesn’t say anything, just stares up at him with wide eyes as he whispers reassurances to her. Eventually, her trembling subsides and her breathing evens out, and she is able to fall asleep again.

Bellamy stays with her through the night, until the first colors of dawn start to paint the sky and he must leave for the morning hunt.

~ ~ ~

Clarke drifts in and out of slumber over the next few days, waking only when Aurora brings her something to eat and drink. She can feel the soreness in her body and throbbing in her head slowly dissipate, and when she wakes up one evening, she finally feels rested from the chaos of the week.

The smell of cooked food makes her stomach grumble, and she contemplates getting up to try and make it to the kitchen table. It’s as though Bellamy reads her mind, because he appears in the doorway seconds later, Aurora trailing behind with a steaming plate in her hands.

She eats the food at record speed while Aurora and Bellamy watch her with amused smiles on their faces. She told them a little about the sorry state of algae meals on the Ark, and every meal they bring her has her discovering all kinds of new flavors.

“Thank you,” she says once she’s done, “for the food, for the shelter, for stitching me up. There must be something I can do to repay you.”

Aurora dismisses her with a shake of her head. “There is no need for that.”

“No, I’m serious. You’re risking your lives to help me.”

Aurora gets up, takes her dirty plate and gives her hand a squeeze. “Dear, do not worry. It may not be an… ideal arrangement, but we will do all we can keep you safe,” she says, and then turns around to leave.

Clarke turns to Bellamy. He’s been silent the entire time, gazing at her with soft eyes and the tiniest hint of a smile.

“You’re all so good to me. You, your mother, your sister - I must have shaken up your life pretty badly, and yet you’re still treating me like I’m one of you,” she tells him.

He hesitates for a moment.

“Well, you are one of us now. Soulmates are each other’s family, so my family is treating you as such. You’re my family,” he says after the long pause, and there’s something he leaves unspoken that she picks up on anyway: _You’re my family…for now._

It’s an awkward reality, but they both know that once the rest of her people come down, they’ll have to separate - maybe, _probably_ for good.

~ ~ ~

Miraculously, hiding Clarke turns out to be easier than all of them had thought it would be.

Aurora sees most of her patients at the medical center, and when someone requests to see her in her cabin’s infirmary room, it is easy to lock the bedroom door without anyone suspecting anything.

By now, the village is well aware of the missing Sky Person, and the bounty has inspired many to take matters into their own hands. Search groups venture out into the wilderness every day, looking everywhere but in the village.

Bellamy and Octavia are seldom at home, but when they are, they make sure to bring Clarke food and make sure she is healing.

One day, as Bellamy comes by with a cup of tea, it hits him just how little he knows about her.

They’ve been hesitant to get too close, to get too attached, since they realized that there’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to be together. They haven’t discussed it, but it’s there. He hears it in Clarke’s voice, sees it in her eyes.

Yet, something in the back of his mind is giving him a glimmer of hope for the future, begging him to push aside all pessimistic thoughts, no matter how realistic they may be. He decides to give in to the voice which tells him how lucky to have a soulmate and that he should open up to him and try to get her to open up to him as well.

“Was it just you and your parents up in space, or do you have any siblings?” he asks, figuring that family shouldn’t be too touchy of a topic.

Clarke seems a little caught off guard by his more personal question, but shakes her head. “No siblings. Only one child per couple is allowed.”

“So you’re telling me you don’t have an annoying little sister? Must be nice,” he jokes, and smiles to himself when he hears her laugh, “What do your parents do?”

To his surprise, her face darkens.

“My mother is on our Council, and she’s also a healer, just like your mother. I was training under her as an apprentice. And my father… he used to be an engineer, making sure all of our machinery was working properly, before he… before he died,” she tells him, voice breaking on the last three words.

 _Oh._ Right. She had told him about what happened to her father already, but he had forgotten. And now she looks sad, and he feels like an asshole.

She clearly doesn’t want to talk about her father, or his death, or her family anymore, so he figures he might as well redirect the topic of conversation to his. “It’s just me, my mom, and Octavia here,” he says, “It’s always been the three of us, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“What happened to your father?”

“He died before I was born, and Octavia’s father never wanted to be in our lives,” he explains. He knows that him losing a father he never even met isn’t the same as Clarke losing hers as a teenager, but she still nods with a look that he can only describe as understanding.

Clarke takes a sip of her tea. “Are you and your sister learning to be healers as well?”

“No,” he laughs, because the thought of Octavia stitching wounds and grinding herbs in the medical center is absurd, “no, my sister wants to be a skilled fighter, and I’m the family’s hunter.”

“Hmmm,” Clarke takes another long sip, leaning back against the pillows and closing her eyes for a moment, clearly content. “It must have been nice growing up down here. The Ark was like a trap - recycled air, recycled water, recycled clothes, with nowhere to escape.”

It’s still astounding, he thinks, that there are people - and thousands of them, at that - living in space. People who have never felt the sun’s rays warm their skin, or breathed in the sweet and fresh scent of Earth’s air. There’s so much that interests him, so many questions about Clarke’s Ark swimming in his head.

“Can you tell me more about the Ark?” he asks Clarke, and she does.

Clarke doesn’t delve into anything too personal, but he still learns a lot about the kind of person that she is. He sees the anger in her eyes when she tells him about the stark differences in quality of life between the different stations, and the petty crimes that people are executed for. He hears the passion in her voice when she tells him about working in Medical and all of the people she’s helped. He sees and hears just how much helping others and working to create a more just society matters to her, above everything else.

He can see that his soulmate has a good, kind heart, and for that he thanks his lucky stars.

She tells him stories for hours and hours, and he listens intently until his mother comes in and calls them to dinner.

~ ~ ~

The days pass by, and life goes on.

Clarke stays inside, not daring to stick her head out the window or take even one step out the door. She’d prefer not to be confined to the rooms of the cabin, but still - it’s infinitely better than being locked up in solitary, and the Blake family is eager to keep her company whenever they’re home.

Aurora is warm and motherly, dropping by often to check on Clarke’s still-healing wound and make sure she’s well-fed and comfortable. She treats Clarke like a second daughter, and it warms her heart.

Octavia talks to her often, and like her brother, wants to hear Clarke’s stories of living in space. In return, she tells Clarke about her training to hopefully become one of the Trikru clan’s greatest fighters.

Bellamy is by far her most frequent visitor. He sets off toward the dense forest before the crack of dawn to hunt, and then makes his way to the trading posts at the center of the nearby village. When he returns in the late afternoon, no matter how sweaty and fatigued he is, he immediately goes to Clarke.

She loves how his eyes light up as he talks about the day’s adventures, and how intently he listens when she tells him yet another story from her childhood.

She tells him how she and her father used to watch old soccer games in their apartment, picking a random team to cheer for and memorizing all the goals and plays for their next re-watch. She tells him about their Unity Day pageants and dances, including the one where she and a girl named Rose shared their first kiss. She tells him about playing hide-and-seek with Wells and practicing stitches on stuffed animals with her mother.

One day, when he thinks that she’s asleep, she feels his light touch against her skin as he runs his fingers down her arm in a gentle caress. It sends shivers down her spine, and she feels goosebumps appear on her bare skin.

When she hears Bellamy draw in a breath, she knows he must feel them too.

~ ~ ~

“I wish I could go outside,” Clarke says one evening over dinner, “and see what’s out there.”

Bellamy and Aurora share a knowing look. They’d discussed it already, late at night when Clarke and Octavia were asleep, and both agreed that it was too dangerous to take her outside even for a bit.

Because it is. Sure, most of the search parties are focusing on the wilderness, and to their knowledge, there’s no reason for anyone to suspect that the Sky Person may be hiding in any of the villages, let alone this one. One slip-up, though - one person who happens to be out and about, one overhead conversation, one flash of unfamiliar blonde hair in the moonlight - and they’re all screwed.

“I’ve been dreaming of Earth my whole life,” Clarke goes on, “but they always said our generation would never see it. Our grandchildren, maybe, but not us. And now - I’m here, but I still feel trapped.”

“And I know it’s for a good reason,” she quickly adds before Aurora can say anything, “I know it’s dangerous out there, but it still feels kind of… unfair.”

His mother nods in understanding. “I know, my dear, and I wish you could see it as well. You just have to hold on a little longer, until the rest of your people come down.”

Bellamy’s hand clenches, and Clarke visibly flinches. “Yeah, I’ll wait until my people come down. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to explore while we’re being hunted by your psycho Commander,” she mutters.

Octavia snorts, and Aurora shoots her a warning look.

They’ve tried to stay away from the topic of Clarke’s impending doom as much as possible, but it’s been hovering in the air for far too long. It’s time to face the harsh reality head-on.

“She’s right, _nomon_ ,” Bellamy speaks up. “She’s already in a life-or-death situation, but it’s nothing compared to the danger she’ll be in once the Sky People arrive.”

Aurora lets out a weary sigh, clearly too tired to argue. She turns to Clarke. “I’m sorry, Clarke. Your situation is a difficult one. I wish there was something I could do, but I can’t help you. For now, you must stay hidden away.”

Clarke bows her head in defeat. Bellamy’s mind is racing, trying to formulate a plan.

Clarke will safely see the outdoors. He’s going to make sure of it.

~ ~ ~

“How is the searching going?” Bellamy asks the dried meat vendor at the marketplace the next morning.

The man shakes his head. “There was no luck, at least not near this village. We had merged with a search party from _Tondisi_ , but there is no trace of a lost Sky Person in the nearby woods.”

If he could, Bellamy would let out a deep sigh of relief. “Do you think they’re still in Trikru territory?”

“I do not, and neither do the others. Our best guess is that they either went towards the sea, to Floukru land, or they’re already dead and we will one day find their remains. Either way, our party has called off the search.”

_Perfect._

“It’s a shame,” the vendor continues, “we were hoping the reward would easily be ours, but that Text with Creator's Style turned off just couldn’t stay put—”

Bellamy grits his teeth, his hands tightening into fists.

“—but it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye out for any clues while you’re out hunting, son. They might return to the scene of the crime.”

And with that, the vendor pats him on the shoulder and leaves to assist another customer.

~ ~ ~

They’d have to be foolish not to seize the moment and take full advantage of this opportunity.

Aurora will be taking a rare night shift at the medical center, and Octavia is thankfully the world’s heaviest sleeper. The search party has been called off, and the villagers have given up. The Blakes cabin is on the outskirts of the village, and Bellamy knows for a fact that there are multiple places in the area that nobody else frequents, let alone in the dead of night.

When Bellamy tells Clarke his plan to take her outside, he doesn’t miss the way her eyes light up even as she tries her best to keep it cool.

“Are you sure we’ll be safe?”

“Positive. I know this area like the back of my hand. Nobody’s looking for you in this area anymore. I can give you a shawl to cover your head, and even if someone sees us, I’ll pass it off as me and Octavia going stargazing and they won’t suspect a thing. I promise.”

Hours later, they’ve made their way through the most secluded parts of the forest until they reach a wide clearing at the top of a small hill.

He lays the blanket over the grass, and gestures at her to lie down with him.

Together, they gaze up at the stars. The sky is mostly clear, save for a few wispy clouds that occasionally pass over the moon.

“This is amazing,” she gasps, breaking the silence, “I saw the stars everyday on the Ark, but seeing them like this, from down here… it’s breathtaking.”

Her eyes are wide in enchantment, an astonished smile on her lips as the moonlight illuminates her face.

“Do you know the constellations?” he asks her.

“I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never seen them.”

He points up at the clusters of stars, her gaze following the direction of his finger. He shows her the constellations of the Big Dipper, Pisces, Andromeda, and Cassiopeia, and she listens intently as he tells her the mythology behind each one.

He feels her fingers running through his curls, and she’s laying on her side, looking at him as though he just hung the moon and all of the stars for her.

“Thank you,” she whispers, and then her hand is cupping his cheek and her lips find his.

He thought the kiss from his dream was heaven, but this is even better.

He deepens the kiss, his arm hooking over hers to caress her cheek in return. She scoots even closer to him, hand fully in his hair and massaging his scalp, letting out a soft moan that sends shivers down his spine.

She slowly climbs on top to straddle him, trailing kisses down his jawline while his hands roam over her back. She finds his lips again and he smiles into the kiss, running his hands through her blonde waves.

There’s no way this is actually happening. This has to be another one of his dreams. He’d never actually be this lucky.

He cocks his head to gently suck on her collarbone, not quite hard enough to leave a mark but enough to make her shiver. 

She’s everywhere, he feels her everywhere, she’s fully consuming his thoughts and _oh God he wants her so bad_ —

And then she stops.

She stops like a deer in the headlights and for a moment he thinks someone’s caught them, but she just rolls off of him and sits up beside him, hugging her knees.

“Clarke, are you ok?” he asks, worried that they moved too fast. “Was that too much? Sorry, I shouldn’t have—”

“No, Bellamy, you did nothing wrong. Quite the opposite.” She lets out a sad chuckle, reaching over to stroke his forehead.

He sits up beside her, turning to face her. “Then what’s wrong?”

She just shakes her head, but he’s not letting it go that easily. “Clarke. It’s ok. You can tell me,” he soothes, reaching out to rub circles into her back.

“I just… we shouldn’t be doing this. Not when we… not when I’ll have to leave.”

_Oh._

She doesn’t want to open up too much, doesn’t want to let herself completely give in to her emotions, because - no matter how much they want to pretend it isn’t - their romance is almost certainly doomed.

She doesn’t want to make leaving hurt any more than it already will.

He understands, because just thinking about what awaits them sends a sad pang through him.

He swallows the very real lump in his throat and focuses on Clarke, who has buried her face in her knees again.

There’s so much that could be said between them, so much they could discuss, but he figures it’s for the best to leave it alone. For now, anyway.

“Do you want to go back home?” he asks instead, and she nods wordlessly.

They make their way back to the cabin in silence, hands intertwined, not daring to look up at the starry sky.

~ ~ ~

Slowly, but surely, she’s starting to understand this whole soulmate thing.

She knows she’s in love with Bellamy, and she knows he’s in love with her.

He stayed with her after the terrible nightmare she had one night, where she was falling to Earth without a pod. He rushed home every afternoon to talk with her for hours. He was willing to risk his life to take her out to see the stars.

He kissed her with everything in him beneath the stars, and they both know they would have gone even further if she hadn’t stopped them.

And, despite only knowing him for such a short time, despite growing up and living in two completely different worlds, despite this fucked up situation they’re in - she feels at home with him. More at home than she ever felt on the Ark, even.

Still, one question about soulmates lingers at the front of her mind.

_Just how rare are soulmates?_

It’s something she’s been wondering about for a while. If Wells has a soulmate, if her parents are - were - soulmates. She supposes the answer to both questions should be yes, but the few people she’s met on Earth make it sound like something elusive that only the luckiest are blessed with.

“Do most people have soulmates?” she finally asks Aurora one evening.

Aurora puts down her knitting needles and gives her a wistful smile. “No, my dear, most people do not. In fact, very few do.”

Clarke frowns, not quite wanting to believe it. She’s seen plenty of people who were clearly in love. She’s seen the kisses that Chancellor Jaha and his late wife used to steal when they thought she and Wells weren’t watching. She’s seen the way her parents looked at each other sometimes, as if the other was the most magnificent thing in the universe. She’s heard the romantic, heart-stopping vows that couples exchanged at the altar at the few Ark weddings she’d attended. How could any of that be different from what she has with Bellamy?

“Now, that’s not to say that most people don’t experience true love,” Aurora clarifies, placing a comforting hand on Clarke’s forearm. “Of course they do, and it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing that should be celebrated. But soulmates… oh, my dear, that’s different.”

Aurora leans back, a distant and reminiscent look in her eyes. “The love between two soulmates is the deepest connection that two people can have. It’s a love that transcends time and place, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love that you’d have to be a fool to let go of. There’s nothing quite like it, and that’s why it’s so special.”

Tears glisten in the corner of the older woman’s eyes, and Clarke can’t help but wonder if Aurora had a soulmate once, too.

~ ~ ~

It’s been almost a month now, and there is still no sign of the remainder of Clarke’s people.

Logically, she knows she shouldn’t be too worried. There’s no way they could have landed on the other side of the planet or in one of the oceans - the first Ark generation set the landing coordinates and calculated the launch window years ago, and they’re the same coordinates her mother entered into Clarke’s pod. If they’d already landed, it wouldn’t be too far from the village. Plus, things like this take time, and she has no doubt that the Council is working day and night to get as many people off the Ark as soon as they can.

However, that doesn’t stop the worry from creeping in - and not for the reasons that Clarke would have thought.

Bellamy notices her thoughtfulness one day, and based on what she can only explain as some magic intuition that all soulmates share, asks her if she’s excited for the rest of her people to come down.

“Yeah,” she says nonchalantly, shrugging.

“Just yeah?”

“I don’t know, it’ll just… complicate things. For everyone.”

“Hey,” he says softly, sitting down at her side and grasping her hands, “it’ll all work out, ok? If two thousand people come down with weapons that can easily wipe us out, the Commander will reconsider declaring war. She may be willing to negotiate with your people, maybe even have them join the Coalition.”

That is true - her people will have guns, bombs, and all kinds of technology that won’t fare well for the Coalition. But there’s something else nagging at her, something she doesn’t even want to admit to herself that she feels.

“It’s not just that,” she mutters, “I just… I’m not sure if I want all of them to come down.” There. She said it.

He looks confused, so she elaborates, “I told you about how things are done on the Ark, remember? How they decide that some people are less deserving of the water and air supply because they make mistakes.”

He nods, and looks disgusted. God, he’d hate the Ark, its leaders, and the rules, and she knows he’d probably end up being floated because he’d definitely speak out against it all.

Just like her.

“Well,” she continues, “somehow I doubt they’ll suddenly have a change of heart when they come down. It’ll be the same old bullshit, the same old rules, the same old society - just on a new planet.”

Bellamy studies her, a look of understanding coming over him. “That’s not the kind of society you want to go back to.”

“Exactly.”

She’s learned enough about the society and rules of the Grounders to know that they’re not perfect either, far from it. But, that doesn’t absolve her people of their wrongdoings, doesn’t make their crimes any better.

“And there’s something else you’re not telling me, Clarke. I can tell,” Bellamy says, drawing her out of her thoughts.

She sighs. She already told him about her dead father, back on the day they met, but she’s danced around all the ugly details that she’s been trying her hardest to ignore.

But here he is, her soulmate, reaching out to give her hand a squeeze, and she feels comfortable enough to be honest with him.

“Someone turned my father in, and that someone is either my mother or my best friend. I’m not prepared to face either of them, and I’m especially not ready to find out who it was”

His thumb starts to gently caress her palm as she takes a steadying breath. Nobody else knew her father’s secret, she’s sure of it. She doesn’t know what reason could have possibly driven them to betray him, betray _her_ , and she doesn’t want to know, because it won’t be good enough.

“I don’t want either of them to die, you know? But I’m still mad, and it feels like I already lost them in a way, and I—” she bursts into tears, and Bellamy’s arms wrap around her to pull her into a hug.

He holds her tight as she curls into him, pressing kisses into her hair as she sobs into his shoulder.

“I’ll be here for you, no matter what,” he whispers, “We’ll get through it together.”

They stay like that for a long time until Clarke’s breathing eventually evens out and she falls asleep, still wrapped up in his arms.

~ ~ ~

One day, Aurora has to see a patient in her infirmary, so Octavia hides out with Clarke in the master bedroom.

Neither of them realize that the door is cracked open - a fairly small crack, but large enough to provide a good view of the bed that Clarke is sitting on.

Nobody notices when Aurora’s patient happens to look into the bedroom as he’s leaving the cabin.

The man does a double take, because there’s a blonde girl he’s never seen before sitting on the bed with Aurora’s daughter.

Everyone in the village knows one another. Yet, he doesn’t know this girl.

Of course, she could be visiting from another village, but there’s something about her that’s… off.

His suspicions are confirmed when he moves a little closer to the door and hears Octavia and the stranger whispering, as if discussing something forbidden.

He’s faintly able to make out the sound of Octavia teaching the girl their language, and then it all clicks.

He smiles to himself as he resumes making his way toward the cabin’s front door. Looks like that hefty bounty _Heda_ offered will be his after all.

~ ~ ~

It happens in a flash.

One moment, Bellamy’s sound asleep, deep in the world of some dream he won’t remember when he wakes up. The next moment, he’s wide awake and there’s banging on the door and angry voices, including his mother’s, shouting things he can’t quite discern.

He shoots out of bed just in time to see four men - clearly part of the Commander’s royal guard - storm through the door, pointing swords at his mother.

“Text with Creator's Style turned off”

Nobody says a word, but Bellamy sees Octavia tiptoe into the hallway out of the corner of his eye.

His mother pleads with them to listen to her, tries telling them that it’s all a misunderstanding and there’s nobody else in the house, but it’s no use.

Because Clarke emerges from her room, hands up in the universal symbol of surrender.

“Text with Creator's Style turned off” she says in well-practiced Trig.

“Clarke, no!” screams Aurora.

Clarke turns towards Aurora, tears in her eyes. “Thank you for everything, but I have to leave. I can’t let you die because of me.”

“Clarke,” Bellamy chokes out, his own tears making the words come out all strangled and wrong, “they’ll kill you.”

“Then they’ll kill me.”

The guards converse among themselves for a long moment, clearly trying to decide what to do with the three Blakes. Eventually, they nod at Clarke, and lower the swords they were threatening Aurora with.

She lets the guards handcuff her, her gaze at her feet. Aurora and Octavia are both shaking as they hold on to each other, tears running down their cheeks.

Bellamy wishes he could tell her how much he loves her, but he can’t. As far as the guards know, she’s just a Sky Person, not a Sky Person and a soulmate. He doesn’t want to make this any worse than it already is.

He feels his heart breaking in his chest, and wonders if Clarke’s is doing the same.

She’s still intently staring at her boots, not daring to make eye contact with Bellamy, Aurora, or Octavia.

“Clarke…” he whispers, as the guards start to lead her out of the cabin.

She turns around and looks into the eyes, and suddenly he wishes she hadn’t because the look on her face is one of pure grief.

“Text with Creator's Style turned off Bellamy,” are the silent words he reads on her lips before she turns away.

And then the door shuts, and his soulmate is gone.

~ ~ ~

“I have to go after her.”

He’s been thinking it for the past hour, and it’s not even a question in his mind anymore - it’s a declaration.

He’ll go after her. He’ll kill those guards with his bare hands if he has to. He’ll rescue Clarke, and if they can’t be together within the lands of the Coalition, he’ll take her elsewhere. If it comes to that, they’ll run off to be together, just the two of them, screw everyone else.

“You know you can’t do that,” says Octavia. She’s been slumped over the kitchen table since the guards left with Clarke, face buried in her crossed arms.

“I can and I will.”

Octavia’s head shoots up, her glare piercing into him. “Bellamy… I know you love Clarke, but you can’t possibly be thinking about walking into _certain death_ for her.”

He keeps his eyes glued on his sister, not saying anything, because they both know the answer.

“ _Nomon!_ Do something! He’s going to get himself killed too!” Octavia shouts at Aurora.

Aurora’s been silent the whole time, slumped against the wall the same way she was the day Bellamy brought Clarke to their cabin. But now, she slowly stands up and walks over to stand before her son.

She cups his face with her hands, brushes his curls out of his eyes.

Bellamy’s struck by the pain in her eyes.

“I had a soulmate once, too,” she whispers tearfully, shocking Bellamy. She’s never opened up about his father, or Octavia’s father, or any other lovers she’s had, so there’s no way he could have suspected.

“Your father and I… we were meant to be together forever,” she continues, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head, “and when he died, I didn’t know how I would go on without him. I wouldn’t have gone on without him, if it weren’t for you.”

He doesn’t know how to respond; he just stares at her, trying to figure out what exactly she’s trying to tell him.

“I love you, Bellamy. I love you and your sister more than I’ve ever loved anyone, him included. But I know how much you love Clarke, I know just how you feel about her, because I used to feel the same way when I was with him.”

_“Nomon…”_

“The kind of love you have, you’d be a fool to give up on.”

Aurora presses a kiss to his temple, and he cherishes the feeling.

“The universe works in strange ways. It brought you and Clarke together against all odds. It won’t give up on the two of you that easily, my dear son, I feel it in my bones.”

She wraps his arms around him, holding him tighter than he’s ever been hugged. He buries his head in the crook of her neck, breathing in her familiar scent for what he hopes won’t be the last time.

“Go after her, Bellamy,” Aurora whispers. “Be careful, be reasonable, believe in the strength of your love, and we’ll be right here waiting for both of you when you return.”

~ ~ ~

Of all the things Clarke had imagined the Commander to be, a young woman who looks to be about her age was not one of them.

 _Heda_ Lexa sits on her throne with a stony expression, her piercing green eyes boring into Clarke as if to make her feel as small as possible.

Clarke sees right through her.

She can see the deep sadness lurking in Lexa’s eyes despite her cold facade, and knows that she’s looking into the eyes of a person who’s had her heart torn apart and still hasn’t recovered.

The guards at her sides stand her up and nudge her forward, until she is just a few steps away from the Commander.

Lexa keeps her eyes on Clarke as she stands, taking two steps forward to tower over Clarke, “So you’re the mysterious Sky Person I’ve heard so much about.”

Clarke stays silent, daring herself to keep her eyes glued on Lexa’s.

“A Sky Person killed my soulmate,” Lexa says, circling Clarke like a vulture. “Did you know that?”

She nods. “Yes, I did. But that was an accident. A horrible, horrible accident that I wish hadn’t happened, but still an accident.”

“Do you think I care whether it was an accident or not?” Lexa spits out.

“No,” Clarke says, “but I don’t understand why you want to kill me.”

Lexa’s eyes narrow, but Clarke isn’t finished.

“I didn’t kill anyone. My pod landed in the middle of the forest, far away from any of your people. I haven’t hurt a single person, and I had nothing to do with the incident that killed your soulmate. I’m innocent.”

The Commander clearly isn’t impressed, judging by the fury that still hasn’t left her face. “Do you know how Costia died, sky girl? She was decapitated. Decapitated, _murdered_ by the pod your people sent down here. She was robbed of the rest of her life, and I will avenge her death for the rest of mine,” she growls.

She’ll wage war without a moment’s hesitation, Clarke understands, which will do nothing but hurt both of their people.

Even if she won’t survive this, she can at least warn Lexa of what is to come.

“I’m sorry about Costia,” she says, hoping Lexa can sense her genuine sympathy, “but I’m going to be blunt with you, Commander: there’s going to be hundreds, maybe thousands of Sky People here within a few months, maybe even sooner, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

“Is that a threat?”

“No,” Clarke says, voice firm, “It’s a promise. My people are running out of air up in space, and they’re preparing to come down as we speak. They won’t want a war, not unless you want one. They’re just trying to survive.”

She thinks she sees some apprehension flash through Lexa’s eyes, if just for a millisecond. She would have missed it had she blinked, but it was there, she’s sure. She takes a deep breath, and continues.

“I’ll admit that I don’t know everything about your Coalition, but I do know that my people have weapons that are capable of wiping your people out in the blink of an eye. They don’t want to use them, but if your people threaten them and try to kill them first, they won’t hesitate. Don’t make them do it.”

At that, the Commander doesn’t rage at her, spit at her, order her guards to kill her right then and there. Instead, she retreats to her throne, appearing lost in thought.

“Tell me more about your people,” she orders, and Clarke does.

She talks, Lexa listens and asks questions, and twenty or so minutes later, Clarke thinks they may be reaching an understanding.

There’s a sudden commotion outside the door, and she hears aggravated voices and the sounds of a physical struggle.

“Let me go!”

She recognizes that voice.

“Bellamy,” she whispers, terror taking over. He’ll die. The guards will kill him, and if they don’t, the Commander will.

The doors open, and Bellamy comes into view. A guard is restraining him, holding a knife against his throat as he brings him in front of Lexa’s throne and pushes him to his knees.

“What is this?” Lexa asks as she stands up, clearly unimpressed by the disruption. “Who are you?”

“This foolish boy chased after the Sky Person,” says the guard. “He and his family were hiding her in their home. What do you sug—”

“Text with Creator's Style turned off” Lexa silences him. “I want to hear it from him. Who are you, and why are you here?”

Bellamy’s eyes meet Clarke’s for a second before flashing back to the Commander, and she can see the fire, the pure _determination_ in them.

“I’m her soulmate,” he says, voice steady and free of any fear, “and I’m here to stop you from killing her.”

Clarke slowly turns to look at the Commander, and she takes in Lexa’s features that are now contorted with fury. They were making good progress, and Lexa was being reasonable, stating that as long as the Sky People will be willing to cooperate with the Coalition’s tribes, no blood will have to be shed.

“Soulmates,” Lexa growls, looking even angrier than she did before. She turns to Clarke, shaking with rage. “You failed to mention that you had a soulmate,” she hisses.

Clarke shrugs, pushing down the very real anxiety she feels building. Because this situation just went from bad, to better, to worse than she could have imagined.

Good thing she’s always been good at masking her fear.

“It just wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t have the two of you killed on the spot,” Lexa says, motioning for one of the guards to come and restrain Clarke.

“Give me one good reason why you _should_ have us killed,” Bellamy retorts, “one that doesn’t include us being soulmates.”

Lexa shakes her head. “You are fools, both of you. All soulmates are to be executed, and you’re no exception to that rule. Your love isn’t special; it’s _foolish_.”

“Bullshit,” she hears herself say, “that’s bullshit.”

“Excuse me?”

“You really want to kill us just because we’re soulmates. Everything I discussed with you, about how our people can prosper together, means _nothing_ to you, because the two of us happen to be in love.”

“Love is weakness,” Lexa says through gritted teeth. “You are weak. Both of you are weak”

Clarke lets out a harsh laugh. “Love is not weakness. Love is strength. Love is what brings us together, what drives us every day! How can you not see that?”

She’s practically yelling at the end, and she doesn’t care if it offends the Commander. And it must, because she can practically feel the anger radiating off of Lexa in waves.

She steels herself and looks right into Lexa’s furious eyes, “I know I can’t change your mind, and you’ll go to the grave sad and alone and afraid of letting yourself love and be loved. But I’m not you. If love is weakness, I’ll gladly be weak. Because it’ll be worth it.”

Lexa starts to say something in response, but Clarke doesn’t let her.

“Wasn’t it worth it with Costia? Wasn’t it worth it when you looked into her eyes, when she held you, when she kissed you? Don’t you lie to me, Lexa, because I know it was. I know you’d do anything to bring her back, and that’s how I know it was worth it.”

Tears swim in Lexa’s eyes, not quite spilling over, even as her expression does not change.

She decides to go in for the kill, with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“I’m sorry that you lost your soulmate, ok? I’m truly, truly sorry, because nobody deserves that pain. I know it tears you apart when you see others having a love that you can no longer have. But I hope that one day, you’ll meet someone new who you’ll want to open up to. I hope you’ll be able to push aside your fears of being ‘weak’ and let yourself give in to your emotions. I hope you find that person. It won’t be what you had with Costia, but it’ll be its own kind of beauty, and you’ll be a fool if you let that pass you by.”

The tears are freely flowing down Lexa’s face now, smudging her warpaint and leaving black trails down her cheeks. Her chest heaves as her breath comes out in shallow gasps, and she grabs the armrest of her throne to steady herself. The guards at Clarke’s sides tighten their grip on her arms, as does the man with his knife still at Bellamy’s throat. They wait expectantly for the Commander to say something, _anything_.

“Get out,” Lexa manages to gasp, “Take them back to their village.”

 _“Heda,”_ Bellamy’s guard asks, “what about the execution?”

Lexa’s eyes are wild as she roars, _“GET. OUT.”_

Without another word, Bellamy's guard removes the knife from Bellamy’s throat and starts walking him out of the room. Clarke’s guard follows, and she steals one last glance at Lexa before exiting the room.

The young woman is crumpled on the ground in front of her throne, sobbing into her hands. Clarke’s heart wrenches at the sight - she may not agree with Lexa’s proclamations, but she does have sympathy for her. She thinks, deep down, that if she were to lose Bellamy, she might react the same way.

_Bellamy._

He risked his life for her by escaping his village to go after her, and then again by standing up to the Commander. It’s a miracle that he’s alive.

Speaking of, Bellamy is waiting for her at the staircase with the group of guards that are to escort them back to the village. Her wrists are freed from the handcuffs, and she and Bellamy immediately reach for each other’s hands, tangling their fingers together and squeezing hard.

They spend the journey hand-in-hand, refusing to separate. It’s so freeing to be able to flaunt their love with no fear, and they want everyone to see them and know that they’re in love, that they’re soulmates.

Clarke finally gets a chance to take in the fact that _she’s on Earth_ , and there’s mountains and trees and clouds and wind and it’s better than anything she’s imagined. She takes a deep breath, savoring the feeling of the fresh, crisp air filling her lungs and the weak rays of autumn sunlight on her face.

Bellamy is silent the entire time, but she can see the content smile that’s playing on his lips.

Hours later, when the sun is setting and the chill has begun to set in, the guards drop them off at the center of the village, leaving the pair alone.

She and Bellamy share one glance, and they both know where they want to go.

~ ~ ~

The sky is clear, even clearer than it was the first night that they snuck out to look at the stars.

This time, though, their attention is anywhere but the stars.

They lie on top of Bellamy’s fur jacket, the rest of their clothes discarded to the side. Clarke’s eyes are closed, her hands buried in Bellamy’s curls as he presses sloppy kisses down her bare body.

It was the logical thing to do, to come back to the meadow before going back home, to finally finish what they had started.

Bellamy hums as his tongue brushes over her clit, sending vibrations through her whole body and making her shiver. _God,_ she thinks, bucking her hips and tightening her grip on his hair, _she’s going to come embarrassingly fast if he doesn’t slow down_.

It’s as if he can read her mind, because a second later, he’s back up at her lips, his fingers still dancing over her swollen clit.

She reaches down between them to take his cock in her hand and give it a few strokes, and the moan he lets out is the most beautiful sound she’s ever heard.

_“Clarke.”_

She gazes into his eyes, licking her lips. They’re dark and filled with desire, even more evidence that he wants her. The thought sends another rush of heat down to her core.

“I need you, Bellamy.”

That’s all it takes. He positions himself at her entrance and she lets out a breathy gasp as he slowly pushes in, filling her up inch by inch.

“Is this okay?” he asks, and she nods, because it’s fucking perfect.

Her eyes fall shut as he finally begins to move, kissing and nibbling at her neck, whispering how much he loves her into her skin.

She’s fooled around with a few people up on the Ark, and it felt good, but it was never like this.

“I love you,” she whispers as he peppers kisses onto her face, “Text with Creator's Style turned off” 

Octavia had taught her how to say those words in Trig a few days ago, while Bellamy was out hunting. She was waiting for the perfect time to say them, and now seemed more perfect than ever. He lets out a gasp, and she wraps her legs even tighter around him, pulling herself as close to him as possible.

His fingers find her clit and her back arches in pure ecstasy. “That’s it,” she hears him say, “come for me Clarke, _god_ , you’re so beautiful, you’re so perfect, _I love you so much…_ ”

That’s all it takes. Waves of pleasure crash over her as she cries out his name, and the only thoughts running through her head are _Bellamy, here, I love you, my home, Bellamy, my soulmate_.

His movements become more and more erratic, and she can tell he’s almost there. He starts to pull out, but she squeezes her legs even tighter to keep him in place. “Inside,” she gasps out, _“Please.”_

He says something in Trig - some sort of curse, she assumes - and then spills inside her with a grunt.

They stay like that for a long moment, panting, his cock softening inside her. A gust of cold air blows through the clearing, but she barely feels it with Bellamy’s warm weight blanketing her.

“That was perfect,” he breathes, giving her lips a quick peck, “ _You’re_ perfect.”

“You’re perfect,” she echoes, lightly tracing patterns on his back with her fingertips. “I love you so much.”

He captures her lips in another kiss, and a deeper and longer one, and she doesn’t care about anything else in the world except for him and the fact that he’s here.

~ ~ ~

After three long days of silence, the news comes from Polis, straight from the Commander: Soulmates are no longer illegal, and will no longer be executed. Additionally, she makes an official announcement about the future arrival of the rest of the Sky People, and emphasizes that the Coalition must prepare to share any resources they may immediately need and work to reach a peace agreement as opposed to declaring war.

The mood in the village changes after that, to one of excitement about the new clan that will join them from above. Instead of trying to find and capture Clarke, people are now coming up to her and requesting to know all about the people from the Ark, asking for advice on what to do and how to act once they arrive. She doesn’t sugarcoat the harsh realities of the Ark’s rules, but she does let everyone know that at the end of the day, her people just want to survive, and she hopes they’ll be willing to negotiate with the Grounders if that guarantees their survival.

Clarke relishes her freedom, spending as much time as she can outside and in public. She accompanies Aurora to the medical center a few times a week, learning new methods and remedies that are unheard of on the Ark and offering her knowledge in return.

She thinks about the people she left behind in space, the people she'll soon be reunited with if everything goes according to plan. She thinks of her mother, of Wells, of the inevitable confrontations she will have once she faces them. She hopes her people will do better down here, hopes that they'll seize this opportunity to have a second chance.

She doesn't worry anymore, because no matter what happens with her people, she'll always have a home and a family in Bellamy and the Blakes.

Clarke and Bellamy spend almost every night in the clearing - sometimes making love, sometimes talking about anything and everything they can think of, but more often than not, just laying in silence, tangled up in each other's arms, gazing up at the sky that Clarke used to call her home.

“We were swimming together, in one of my dreams,” Clarke murmurs as they lay together under a thick blanket one chilly night. “We were deep in the ocean, surrounded by colorful fish, and the water was the prettiest shade of blue I’ve ever seen.”

“I think I had a dream like that too,” he whispers. “Hate to break it to you, though, but our sea looks nothing like that. The water’s murky and freezing, and I don’t even want to imagine what fish are down there if you swim too deep.”

Clarke giggles, burying her head in his bare chest. “I still want to see it. I want you to take me.”

“I’ll take you to the sea,” he mutters, pressing a kiss into her hair, “I’ll take you to the sea, to the mountains, to the swamps, wherever you want to go.”

Now, they’ve got all the time in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed, and kudos and comments are always appreciated :')


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